Someone referenced "Chinese Hot Sauce" and someone else referenced a zingy snap to the real deal similar to touching your tongue to a battery. This makes me wonder if one of the mystery ingredients isn't in fact Sichuan Peppercorns?

As someone who uses these often to make Shichimi Torigashi from scratch, I could see if they're not ground whether that they could easily be mistaken for the clove everyone's saying is in there.

Finally, when you consider that Chinatown is only a hop skip and a jump on the 10 freeway, it makes me even more convinced this might be what you're all looking for.

FWIW, despite the review, I went ahead and made the BLT recipe for Thanksgiving; I usually make a different one that my family loves but they ate up the BLT Pate like ravenous dogs. It ended up in my "Really Good" recipe file :)

20 years ago we used to have a roomate who made what I can only describe as this wonderful Pear Cake thing and cannot find him or the recipe and I'm now obsessed with having/making some. It was baked in a pie dish, had a pie crust type shell with canned Pears that were surrounded by a nutmeg scented batter (it was a cake batter consistency) made with the syrup from can then baked. I seem to remember some butter being creamed with sugar in the batter part (but then wonder how it wasn't overly sweet, which it wasn't).

He was originally from Bakersfield,and I think his family was probably either German or Polish but cant imagine any authentic European recipes that'd use the syrup this way. Has anyone ever seen or heard of such a beast or is this likely one of those things that belong in the "Your Mom's Weird Cooking" thread?

OMG saw the title to this thread and got all excited - IMHO the best thing for a poached chicken is the Poached Chicken with Ginger-Scallion Sauce from Epicurious. Easy and perfect for warm weather eating. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/foo...

Our dog (baby) Romeo's being treated for Lymphoma and when I asked how they gave him the injectables/IV's they said they have him lie down on the floor while they fed him dog cookies.

I wanted to return the favor for all the docs and techs who take such good care of him so I made a tin which was study in shortbread(shortbread-like) cookies: PH Korova chocolate cookies w/fleur de sel, Alice Medrich's Pecan Bourbon Shortbread (with a little graham flour for nuttiness) and Brown Butter Rosemary Shortbread cookies.

Love these recipes for their uniqueness and for being not too sweet - they seemd to be a hit at the clinic too :)

Seriously seriously good. The only modification I made was to marinate for 2 hours instead of 10 mins. I've made 197 new recipes since Jan 1 and this recipe is only 1 of 11 to make it into my "Outstanding" folder. Quick, easy delicious, can't get any better than that.

I agree. It's the smokiness not the heat that scares me off. I wish someone would make this in a tube like tomato paste that i could use just a little of without opening the whole can. The freezing thing just doesn't do it for me - frozen or not, it'd take me 5 years to go through all of the chipotle in just one of those little cans.

Funny you mention this - I'm having this exact challenge but with a twist. Last year I realized I was in a total cooking rut so made myself start cooking other people's recipes - from cookbooks, magazines, blogs, websites, you name it I cooked it.

Somehow, I managed to complete over 300 new to me recipes in 2009. Have started afresh in 2010 and while I'm almost at 100, my goal is to do 365 new recipes. There were a lot of winners in last years bunch so it's really hard not to go back to some of the better recipes.

I'll admit, I've been back to the well twice (but not in the last month) - once for a Peruvian Aji Chicken recipe from here on Chow and a second time for this Ribeye rubbed with a fennel rosemary rub (amazing).

It's not easy to not repeat but can be done if you have an open mind and willing palate.

So FWIW, I bought one of those jumbo 1lb bars of chocolate at Fresh & Easy and was delighted to unwrap a big bar with Callebaut printed on it. Makes the likelyhood of the TJS bar being the same possible IMHO.

Oh, Banoffee. This was an obsession for me last summer. After deciding that most of the recipes looked achingly sweet, I did an adult riff on one which turned out really good.

Made the dulce de leche from scratch (Alton Brown recipe), added a touch of salt to it when finished (I was going for a bit of a salted caramel thing). Did the graham cracker crumb crust as above but used browned butter for a bit of nuttiness.

In my Kitchenaid, I then whipped a carton of creme fraiche, mascarpone, 1/2 c whipping cream, vanilla and a little bit of confectioners sugar with a 1/2 package of gelatin powder softened with about a tablespoon of water (added the gelatin to give the cream some substance to hold everything up).

Laid down a 1/2" layer of dulce in the pie crust, then about 1/2 of the cream mixture then the sliced bananas (tossed with some lemon juice & a tb of confectioners sugar to prevent browning) then topped the bananas with the remainder of the cream. Sprinkled some slivered almonds on top and refrigerated until set.

That pie (and it's calories) still haunts me It was SO good.. Darn you chow people, for triggering the obsession all over again LOL.

As a Pillsbury Bake-Off finalist (Candied Bacon and Apple Canapes in the app category), I think I'm almost duty bound to point you to Pillsbury.com for ideas ;P)

A quick search shows they've got something like 300+ ideas as to how you can use those biscuits - something in there might well strike your fancy.

And I totally feel your pain around having lots of product and not knowing what to do with it. While I was testing recipes, I was buying product left right and center and I'm still left with quantities of Jif Peanut Butter, Smuckers Jam and I'm pretty sure there's probably at least one Pillsbury pie crust that went AWOL somewhere in the depths of my fridge. To make matters worse, we're a family of 2 without kids so using the leftovers is a low process LOL.

I used the Serious Eats method this year and it worked out GREAT. Usually I have a problem with timing so when my Dad called and said he was running an hour later than he planned, as usual I panicked. But, as the Serious Eats recipe suggested, I continued cooking to 120 degrees, took the thing out for a long rest (while Dad was on the freeway) and then reheated & caramelized at 500 degrees. Everyone thought it turned out great.

Now, that being said, the next day I helped my sister do the same to her roast and she said she didn't like the fact that it still smelled "meaty". (scratching head, I thought that was the whole purpose for eating beef).

And yes, there were no drippings or fat for Yorkshire pudding but I had already pre-empted that problem by making a big pot of beef stock the previous week and freezing the skimmed fat just for use on Christmas Day.

I was looking at the folder I keep here on my computer with my recipes in it and realized to my surprise/shock/horror that I cooked almost 300 new recipes in 2009 - many from publications in 2009, many older ones that I had collected but just now got around to making.

Of the 300, 274 give or take were deemed worth repeating. The other 25 were meh, not so good but thankfully none sent me running to the bathroom in horror.

So, from my 'Make Again' file here are my top 5 best new recipes for 2009.

"Aussie Burger" - Saveur Magazine. That combo of meat, sharp cheddar, pineapple, beets all topped with a fried egg was the highlight of my weekly Friday Burger Madness and indeed the entire year.

"Pizza Bianca with Sottocenere Cheese"-Mozza via Food and Wine Magazine. Had to improvize with this - there was no recipe per se, just a description (does that still count?). Never had the Sottocenere cheese before but it's nice truffle scent and light sprinkling of truffle oil at the end was a seriously nice finish to a great pizza.

"Chicken in Milk" - Jaime Oliver. Strange to think that you could toss these unlikely ingredients (milk, lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic, cinnamon sticks, chicken) into a pot and have it come out good but actually comes out amazing. Rich, sweet, spicy, lemony goodness AND the house smells great while it's cooking. Perfect cold weather recipe.

"Brennan's Bananas Foster" (Epicurious). Yes, I've played around with the idea of Bananas Foster before but never used an actual recipe (let alone THE recipe). If you haven't made this, please promise me you will...soon. I made these twice this year, both times served in crepes with vanilla ice cream and they were so good I wanted to jump in the pan and bathe myself in that buttery goodness.

Pizzamaking.com has got to be the most technical food forum(s) I've ever seen.

These guys are fanatical about making great pizza at home. After spending literally hours reading through the various threads, I found a great recipe that works really well in our home oven on a pizza stone - for a while I was addicted to the process and every Weds was pizza night in our house.

Definitely easier with my KA stand mixer but I'm sure you can do this all by hand - doesn't need or want a lot of kneading FYI and make sure to use cold water. Seems counter intuitive but trust these guys, they know their stuff.

King Arthur Flour's Sir Lancelot makes this crust SUPERIOR IMHO but if you don't have it, you can use regular bread flour to good result.

I've made it without the overnight refrigeration (made in the morning and put in fridge until about 5pm) but it really is better tasting with the over night rest.

Another nice thing is that you can choose your preferred weapon of measurement (weight or volume - I use ounces for flour and water and teaspoons for everything else.)

Dissolve the salt and sugar into the water, in the stand mixer bowl. Combine the yeast and flour in a separate bowl, then add it to the mixer bowl. Mix for about 1 minute then add oil.

Continue to knead on lowest speed until the dough smooths into a ball (two or three minutes in the mixer). Remove dough from bowl and move to ziplock bag lightly coasted with oil.

Refrigerate overnight - about an hour before baking, remove from fridge, shape and top. I usually preheat my baking stone for about 45 mins at 400 degrees prior to baking, shape the pizza, dough at the 45 min mark and bake for about 15 mins give or take.

Good luck! If you have the time/inclination check out those forums, pretty amazing how such small variances can completely change the complexity of the dough and end result!

My sister is a relish tray fan - yes, she makes one every year for Thanksigiving and most years it's left untouched.

And, our favorite BBQ joint (Bear Bit in North Hills CA) still does the relish bowl of my childhood (a few carrots, sliced pickle, celery and hot peppers over a bowl of ice). This is the only place where I'll willingly eat raw carrots and celery in raw stick form.

I made this a couple of weeks ago and really liked it (but we're big beet and potato folks here LOL). Used the ready made baby beets from Trader Joes (too hot to fire up the oven for just this) and took the liberty of adding some defrosted green peas to it but otherwise thought it was a great compliment to the lemongrass riblets and scallion corn (as suggested in the book). Have to agree that the neon pink was definitely fun!

Vietnamese coffee. 2 oz of dark delicious imbibable liquid Crack. Thank goodness I didn't have any sweetened condensed milk when I fell down the rabbit hole or I'm sure my addiction would be far worse.

For the moment I've managed to contain my 3pm fix to fat free half half and a little sugar but god help us all if (when?) I crack open the emergency La Lechera can I've got stashed in the back of my cupboard.

Does anyone know if theres any relation to the original? Do I dare even hope that the pizza of my dreams is available again?! I'm 30 miles from there otherwise I'd make the drive to find out myself. (fingers crossed :L)